Border stabilizers



Mam}! 1965 J. MARTIN BORDER STABILIZERS Original Filed July 20. 1961INVENTOR BY 4 I: ATTORNEY United States Patent 25,742 BURDER STABILIZERSJoseph Martin, Laurelton, N.Y., assignor to Eclipse Sleep grotllucts,Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New or Original No. 3,093,840,dated June 18, 1963, Ser. No. 125,520, July 20, 1961. Application forreissue Mar. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 366,674

3 Claims. (Cl. -260) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in theoriginal patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matterprinted in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

This invention relates to border stabilizers for mattresses, boxsprings, upholstered items and the like, and is particularly related tostabilizers of the class illustrated in United States Letters Patent No.2,509,831 issued May 30, 1950.

Among the objects of the present invention it is aimed to provide anedge stabilizer for a mattress, box spring, and the like, of the classillustrated in said United States Letters Patent No. 2,509,831 composedof yieldable wire in which the laterally extending ends characterized bycircular loops extend inwardly and are disposed on opposite sides of thestabilizer in order to counteract the stresses and strains on thelaterally extending ends of the stabilizer to guard the stabilizer frombuckling or bulging laterally.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an edgestabilizer for a mattress, box spring, or the like, of the classillustrated in said United States Letters Patent No. 2,509,831 composedof yieldable wire in which the laterally extending ends characterized bycircular loops extend inwardly and are disposed on opposite side of thestabilizer and constitute the abutments for the ends of a helical springwhich extends from one loop to the other to aid and cooperate with theelasticity in the wire of the stabilizer proper to return the stabilizerto its normally expanded position after having been compressed when inuse.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an edgestabilizer for a mattress, box spring, or the like, of the classillustrated in said United States Letters Patent No. 2,509,831 composedof yieldable wire in which the laterally extending ends characterized bycircular loops extend inwardly and are disposed on opposite sides of thestabilizer and in which the ends of the wire are twisted over oneanother to incline in opposite directions with the opposite positions ofsaid loops to counteract the stresses and strains on the laterallyextending ends of the stabilizer thereby to guard the stabilizer frombuckling or bulging laterally. I

These and other features, capabilities, and advantages of the inventionwill appear from the subjoined detailed description of specificembodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmental perspective of a mattress equipped with theimproved stabilizer made according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevation or" the stabilizer shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation on a smaller scale than FIG. 2 of a secondembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation on the scale of FIG. 3 of a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross section of the wire used in the embodiments of FIGS. 1to 4 inclusive.

FIG. 6 is a cross section of a narrow fiat stock used in place of theround stock illustrated in FIG. 5.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the stabilizer 1consists essentially of upper and lower abutments, outwardly extendingextensions between said abutmerits, and inwardly extending loops formedin the outer ends of the outwardly extending extensions. Morespecifically, the stabilizer 1 composed of a yieldable material such aswire or narrow flat stock is provided with two outwardly extending pairsof inclined sides 2, 3 and 4, 5, constituting outwardly extendingextensions, connected to one another by the circular loops 6 and 7respectively constituting inwardly positioned abutments at the outerends of said outwardly extending extensions. The lower inclined sides 3and 5 are connected by the lower horizontally extending side 8constituting the lower abutment which is connected by the helicalconnecting spring 9 to the lower border wire 10 and the upper inclinedsides 2 and 4 terminate in the upper sides [11112 and [12] 11respectively, constituting an upper abutment, which overlap and areconnected to one another by any suitable means such as the twists 13 and14 and then connected by the helical connecting wire 15 to the upperborder wire 16 of the mattress frame.

The sides [11] 12, 2, 3, 8, 5, 4 and [12] I], constituting an endlessunit, and loops 6 and 7 are part of a single resilient wire. A secondhelical spring 17 is provided with hook formations 1S and 19 at its endswhich engage the loops 6 and 7 respectively and maintain the loops 6 and7 at a predetermined tension relative to one another determined by thecooperation of the elasticity in the spring wire of the unit 1 and theelasticity in the helical spring 17. The spring 17 thereby in turnfacilitates adjusting the tension in the stabilizer either byeliminating the helical spring 17 and relying only on the rhomboidconstruction 1 or twisting the helix of the spring 17 more or lessaccording to the tension required.

Excellent results have been achieved when the wire constituting the unit1 illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, is No. 13 gauge of about 0.0915" indiameter and when the wire of the helical spring 17 is composed of wireof No. 17 gauge of about 0.052" in diameter.

With regard to adjustment by means of the helical spring 17, attentionis called to the fact that when the wire of the unit 1 is composed ofhigh carbon steel wire No. 13 gauge of about 0.0915" in diameter and insize approximates 8" from the inner periphery of loop 6 to the innerperiphery of the loop 7, of about 10 /2 from the outer periphery of theloop 6 to the outer periphery of the loop 7 and about 5 /2 from theouter periphery of the sides 11 and 12 to the outer periphery of theside 8, and the helical spring 17 in its free unstretched extent isabout 8" in length, the diameter of the helix about /2" and the wire iscomposed of high carbon steel of about No. 17 gauge of about 0.052 indiameter, that then the load will be increased from two pounds to twoand three-quarter pounds when the helix of the wire 17 is given twoturns as contrasted to its free unstretched condition.

The upper portion of the loop 6 is disposed on the front side of theunit 1 while the lower portion of the loop 6 is disposed on the rearface of the unit 1 looking at FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, whereas the upperportion of the loop 7 is on the rear face of the unit 1 and the lowerportion of the loop 7 is on the front side of the unit 1, looking atFIGS. 1, 2 and 3. In turn, although the twists 13 and 14 looking at thesame from the right hand side of FIG. 2 are twisted in the samedirection, the inclinations of the two twists are in opposite directionsthereby to cooperate with the formation of the loops 6 and 7 on oppositesides of the unit 1 to counteract any buckle or bulge laterally in onedirection. In other words, since, when in use, the pressure isdownwardly, the tendency would be to bulge the end of the stabilizer 1at the loop 6 outwardly while the buckle or bulge on the end of the unitadjacent the loop 7 would tend to buckle inwardly looking at FIG. 2. Inturn, the twist 13 when the unit 1 is compressed would tend to unraveland cause the unit 1 to from the embodiment-in FIGS; 1, 2 and 3 in thatin-place of the sides 3, 8 and 5 i the embodiment illustrated in FIGS.1, 2 and 3, the lower portion of the unit 20'is formed into a single are21 in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 and the sides 2, 11, 12 and 4of the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and -3 are formed into asingle are 22 in the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 4.

FIG. illustrates a cross section of around wire such' as illustrated inFIGS. 1, 2, 3 and4inclusive and FlG. 6 is a cross section of a flatstock from which the unit 1 of FIGS. 1,2 and 3 and unit 20 of FIG. 4 maybe formed.

While-the spiral spring 17 is desirable when the mattress is to be usedto support fairly heavy loads, with mattresses for children and personsof lighter weight, the springs 17 may be omitted as illustrated in FIGS.3 and 4.

I claim:

1. AEboarderlborder stabilizer for a mattress or the like having anupper and a lower border wire, said stabilizer being composed of anelastic material and having mediate and about midway between said borderwires, in-

wardly protruding loops extending from the middle of each extension,said abutments, extensions, and loops disposed in a substantiallycommonvertical plane, [inwardly protruding loops extending from the middle ofeach extension,] said loops extending from oppositesides of the plane ofsaid stabilizer, {and one free end of said elastic material is twistedaround said elastic material adjacent its other free end inclining inone direction, and the other free end of said elastic material istwisted around said elastic material adjacent said one free endinclining in the other direction] and the free ends of said'elesticmaterial being twisted into a double twist adjacent one another whichtwists incl'ine in opposite directions to one another.

2. A border stabilizer for a mattress or the like having an upper and alower border Wire, said stabilizer having upper and lower substantiallylongitudinally extending abutments, helical connecting springsconnecting said abutments to said upper and lower border wires, saidstabilizer comprising a single yieldable Wire formed into outwardlyprotruding extensions intermediate and about midway between said borderwires, inwardly protruding loops extending from the middle of eachextension, said abutments, extensions, and loops disposed in asubstantially common vertical plane, means for connecting the ends ofsaid wire to one another, said loops extending from opposite sides ofsaid stabilizer, Eancl one free end of said wire is twistedaroundtsaid.wirepadjacentits other free end inclining in one.directionand the other freeend of said wire is twisted around said-wireadjacent-said one free end inclining in the other directionland saidconnecting means consisting of the free ends of said wire being twistedinto two twists adjacent to one another incliningin'opposite directionsto one another.

3. A border stabilizer for-a mattressor the like having anupperand alower border wire, saidstabilizer having upper and lower substantiallylongitudinally extending abutments, helical connecting springsconnecting said abutments to said upper and lower border wires,said'stabilizer comprising a single yieldable wire formed into six sideswith the upper and lower sides constituting'said upper and lowerabutrncnts and the remainingnfour sides formed into pairs, the sides ofeach pair of equal length, the sides of each pair forming an acute anglewith one another and extending outwardly/from said abutments and in turnforming obtuse angles with said abutments, a helical tension spring,inwardly extending loops at the acute angles ofveach pair of outwardlyextending sides connecting .the ends of said tension spring to saidsides, said loopsextending from opposite sides of said stabilizer, saidsix sides and loops disposed. in a substantially eonnnonvertieal plane,[and one free end of said Wire istwisted around said wire adjacent itsother free end inclining in one direction and the other free end of saidwire is twisted around said wire adjacent said one free end inclining inthe other direction] and the free ends of said wire being twisted.

into two twists adjacent to one another and inclining in oppositedirections to one another..

References Cited by the Examiner The following references, cited by theExaminer, are of record in the patented fileof thi patent or theoriginal patent.

UNiTED STATES PATENTS FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

